Reggie Evans dismisses Heat's title: 'That was a lockout season'

Reggie Evans said beating the Heat doesn't mean anything because their title came during a lockout season. (Jesse D. Garrabrant/Getty Images) Reggie Evans

Reggie Evans said beating the Heat doesn't mean anything because their title came during a lockout season. (Jesse D. Garrabrant/Getty Images)

Reggie Evans agrees with Phil Jackson's school of thought when it comes to winning titles during lockout seasons.

Jackson said following the San Antonio Spurs' 1999 NBA Finals win over the New York Knicks that their title should have an asterisk next to it because it happened during a lockout season, and called their run an "aberration."

Evans, the Brooklyn Nets' rebounding machine, echoed those sentiments Wednesday, hours before the Nets get ready to play the Miami Heat. In a report from Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News, Evans said that beating LeBron James and the Heat would not prove anything because their title took place at the end of a season that was cut short by nearly 20 games because of the lockout:

"It doesn't prove nothing. That was a lockout season."

Evans said that James is not unlike anyone else on the floor in that every player should command a double team, but added the key will be to stopping James in transition:

"Our team is defending the Miami Heat. If our team has to defend one person, LeBron isn't going to score nothing. LeBron is no different from Joe Johnson or Andray Blatche. No different.People need help (on defense). Some people don't need help. Everybody has to be double-teamed, it doesn't matter who you are. You just have to stop LeBron in transition."

The Nets lost to the Heat twice this season but Evans said the game on Wednesday night is still nothing personal or about revenge for him or the team and regardless of the outcome, they won't even be thinking about this game in a few weeks from now:

"The way I look at it is we have to win in front of our fans because we're playing them (at) home, not letting them down, no matter who we're playing. It's too early to be talking about that kind of stuff. Ten games from now you're not going to thinking about this game."